Up until a year ago, I’d only seen a few episodes of Doctor Who — mostly season 1. I was interested by what I saw but I prefer to watch shows sequentially, even though the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey nature of the show makes viewing out of order just as enjoyable. Then Season 5 came along and I made a point of watching it from the beginning. I was hooked within the first episode.

I watched, and rewatched, Season 5. Because I’d only seen Season 1 before, I’d considered Christopher Eccleston to be my Doctor, if pressed. Many of my friends were in David Tennet’s camp but I missed his reign as doctor almost entirely. I proudly declared for Matt Smith, despite the early doubters.

With the build-up to Season 6, and having rewatched Season 5 for the umpteenth time, it dawned on me that I had four full seasons of Doctor Who, almost entirely new to me, to watch. Plus, three seasons of Torchwood!

Thanks to the wonders of multi-tasking, I watched the first four seasons, in order, along with the specials At first, I wasn’t sold on Tennet as the Doctor. The sword fight with Ming the Merciless the Sycorax reeked of cheese, although the return of the hand was a very nice touch later on. There were tons of great episodes interspersed throughout, with the occasional awesomeness that left me raving to anyone I could corner. When The End of Time came around, I expected to be sad but I cried like a baby.

Season 6 starts…tomorrow. How do I feel about this?

Yeah. I’ve watched every preview clip I can get my hands on. I’m going to shotgun through my favorite episodes of Season 5 today and tomorrow in preparation. There will be hors d’oeuvres, although I’m not sure what kind yet. BBC America has this handy set of recipes, but sadly, I’m allergic to most of them.

ETA: Also? River Song. I just now put Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, River’s first appearance, together with the Season 6 tease, Silence is coming. My head, it might burst from excitement. There’s a few odd coincidences involving River Song, and I don’t think those are happening by chance.